<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Still here by Shut_up_im_Lucky</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24298222">Still here</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shut_up_im_Lucky/pseuds/Shut_up_im_Lucky'>Shut_up_im_Lucky</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red vs. Blue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other, Season/Series 06, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, maine is soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:00:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,892</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24298222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shut_up_im_Lucky/pseuds/Shut_up_im_Lucky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The meta was powerful, brutal, and ruthless, it had all the tech of all the freelancers it had killed, and almost all the AIs created from alpha. It carried the brute shot, a combination of a knife and a rifle, but even without that, it’s natural strength made it a formidable opponent, and with its strength unit made it all the more terrifying.<br/>	But before there was the Meta, there was Maine.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agent Carolina &amp; Agent Washington (Red vs. Blue), Agent Carolina &amp; The Meta | Agent Maine, Frank "Doc" DuFresne &amp; Agent Washington, Frank "Doc" DuFresne &amp; The Meta | Agent Maine, Franklin Delano Donut &amp; Agent Washington, The Meta | Agent Maine &amp; Agent Washington</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. For the first time in fucking forever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The meta was powerful, brutal, and ruthless, it had all the tech of all the freelancers it had killed, and almost all the AIs created from alpha. It carried the brute shot, a combination of a knife and a rifle, but even without that, it’s natural strength made it a formidable opponent, and with its strength unit made it all the more terrifying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But before there was the Meta, there was Maine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had never been a social man, even before he got shot in the throat he didn’t talk much, the only people he could call his friends were Carolina and Washington. Carolina had treated him as a worthy ally, something which she only did for those she was close to. She had even given him her AI implant after he was shot, and even though that led to everything that had happened, it had been a kind sentiment at the time. Washington was his roommate, he didn’t try to get Maine to talk when he didn’t want to and could translate when Sigma couldn’t. He didn’t treat him any differently after he got shot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wash was the only one who had asked Maine if something was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But none of that mattered now, not when he was the Meta, and not Maine, the creature that slaughtered freelancers in its path to the AIs, not the man who fought alongside them. And Maine doesn’t blame anyone for that, he might as well be dead, he doesn't have any say to what he does anymore. Sigma trapped Maine inside a prison in his own mind, keeping him from doing anything, and that prison only got stronger with each AI collected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was vaguely aware of what was happening, what his body was doing, he had to focus to see or hear. But when you’re stuck in a cell, you don’t have much to do, so he did it often, he could only ever see </span>
  <em>
    <span>or </span>
  </em>
  <span>hear, never both at the same time. Which was a relief sometimes, didn’t have to hear the cries, screams, pleas of mercy, or see the blood, guts, tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few of the AIs would visit his cell sometimes, Sigma used to come in a lot, try to get Maine on their side. But after one too many times Maine declined or insulted him, Sigma left him alone. Gamma came in once, tried to tell jokes, played some mind games, but Maine lashed out when he got too close, that was the closest he ever got to taking back control.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gamma never visited after that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Theta would visit often, when he missed North, or when he got frightened. Maine always thought it was because he reminded Theta of the good times during the project. But he never knew for sure, he never asked. Theta would absently chat about things he did or learned about, unbothered by Maine’s silence. Maine let him talk, it filled the deafening silence of the cell without making him want to die. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were a few times where Theta came in and sat down in silence, hugging his knees, and his head down. The AIs couldn’t cry, but if they could, Maine was sure Theta would be. During those times, Maine would find himself close to the bars of his cell next to Theta.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the short time he’d been there, Delta visited just as often as Theta, he didn’t do much, whenever he came in he would just give Maine a knowing look and sit down. Sometimes he would work on something, others he’d just sit there, Maine enjoyed his visits the most.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Meta was going after Epsilon now, he heard them talking about it, and they will have to kill Washington and a bunch of random sim troopers to get it. He wasn’t going to see or listen to this battle, the fact that they were going to kill Wash was painful enough. He didn’t need to see the face of his dead friend or his painful screams.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>God, he’s so tired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still feels what his body needs, tired, hungry, thirsty, Sigma could tell statistically when the body needed something, but minimized those things for efficiency. Maine became numb to hunger and thirst, but sleep was another thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Meta has entered the UNSC facility now, Washington has been spotted, they shot, they should have started fighting now, but something else has the AIs’ attention. The shift in focus was abrupt and jarring, Maine thought it was because they found Epsilon, the excitement was strange but it could’ve been cause he was the last peace. But Maine was wrong, they hadn’t found Epsilon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They found the Alpha.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt the Alpha enter his mind, but couldn’t figure out anything else, because all the AIs could think about was the fact the Alpha was here. They were distracted, more distracted than they had ever been before. Enough that Maine could escape his cell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He practically bolted from it, hoping that he would have enough time to get a message out, that he could try to tell someone that he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, that his actions were </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sigma’s</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span>. So determined to get controlled that he forgot he couldn’t speak, he almost missed the beeps of the computer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a flash of light, and Maine’s brain was filled with agonizing screams of the AI, its deafening, nine different screams all at once. It was painful, painful enough that Maine doubles over in pain as his vision blurs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first thing he sees is gray and white, everything is fuzzy, and it's so quiet. But it feels so much more real than anything has in years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His vision clears, and he sees it's his hands on the floor, he flexes his fingers and moves his head around to see everything around. This isn’t his mind, this was real.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was in control again.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Why?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Wash activated the EMP, he destroyed the AIs, nothing is controlling it anymore<br/>So why was the Meta still moving!?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Wash was doomed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he wasn’t killed here, he’d be going to prison. The EMP had gone off, destroyed the AIs, <strike>destroyed the alpha he tried to tell him tried to get him to run</strike> the UNSC was coming for him. The Meta was destroyed, it crumpled to the ground, there were no AIs controlling <strike>him</strike> it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So why was it getting up?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It started out slow, it just flexed its fingers, then it started looking around, then it started standing up. This was bad, Wash already got shot in the shoulder, he wouldn’t be able to fight the Meta. He didn’t expect to survive but he wanted to try and make something right before he died. The Meta’s movements are slow and careful, and when it gets up and looks at him, it lets out a few growls but doesn’t make any movement to attack him. The two just stand there staring at each other, Wash presses himself against the destroyed computer, the Meta just stares at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound of the guards startles the two out of their staredown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit,” Wash mutters as they get closer, the Meta looks towards the sound, then around the room -looking at available exits-. It looks back at Wash, it rushes towards him, Wash tries to shoot it but he's too late.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Washington’s surprise, the Meta doesn’t attack, it instead grabs him by the waist, and holds him under its arm like a sack of flour. Then starts running through the facility. He tries to escape but quickly figures out that the Meta has him in a tight enough grip that he can’t break. The Meta takes out any guards they manage to run into as they go through the base, by the time they get to the motor pool the amount of UNSC soldiers has decreased significantly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They end up going to one of the jeeps, the Meta practically shoves Wash into the passenger's seat as it jumps into the driver's seat, trying futility to start it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The EMP took out all the tech in the facility,” Washington says to it, “there’s no way that's going to-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Meta punches the consol and the jeep starts going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you fucking serious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They practically floor it out of there, the UNSC can't follow, since all the vehicles (except this one for some reason) were short-circuited by the EMP, and most of the soldiers were smart enough to stay the hell of the incoming jeep. There was an unlucky group that pursued them, and though Wash knew there was no way they could catch up, they were shooting at the jeep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Meta growled when it saw this, it quickly grabbed and shoved a round object into Wash’s hands and continued driving. Wash looked and found it was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>grenade</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he just looked back at the Meta in confusion, to which the Meta proceeded to growl in his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright I get the message,” Wash replied, pulling the pin and tossing it behind them, the explosion not only took out some of the unlucky bastards but also gave them a dust cloud to use as cover to escape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two kept driving until the UNSC facility couldn’t be seen on the horizon, neither of them spoke (or growled) during the time, but Wash did find a box of MREs under his seat, so that was something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finally stopped, the sun had already started setting, there weren’t any signs of UNSC or anyone else really, it was a desolate wasteland. But the Meta stopped the car anyway, slumping back in the driver's seat. Looking… tired, more tired than it had ever looked, even when desperately searching for a power source to charge it’s suit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want with me?” Wash asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Meta practically flinches as that, turning to Wash.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want with me?” he repeats, “Why did you help me, Meta?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It continues to stare at him, until slowly, slowly taking off its helmet to look at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wash recognized the face, Maine had been his roommate after all, but it was still a shock to see it. The normally bald head had fuzz all over it, its skin was sickly pale, its cheeks were sunken, there were deep bags under the eyes, and its mouth was opened, taking in deep breaths like it hadn’t been able to do that in years. But it was the eyes that had Wash’s attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They weren’t the cold dead eyes the Meta had, that Wash had to fight against. They weren’t the dull muddy eyes Maine had a few weeks before the MoI crashed, the ones that had clued Wash in that something was wrong, the ones that cause him to worry. These eyes were a bright hazel, the ones of his friend, they belonged to someone who had a terrible poker face because he always wore a helmet, who humored Wash’s idea of sneaking a cat onto the ship, who would jump into the line of fire because his friends were in danger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maine?” Wash whispered, he was unsure, he didn’t want to gain that hope only to have it crushed again, he didn’t want an answer just in case he was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But <strike>it</strike> he just smiles, it's small and gentle, but it's there, and Washington almost cries in relief because his best friend was </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maine was still here. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>